Attendance

Absences

Daily attendance is very important for your child's education. 

Report Absence

If your child will be absent for any reason, please call our 24-hour attendance line at 408 335-2145 or send an email to: [email protected]. If calling in, please talk slowly and clearly and leave a message stating:

• Your name, and relationship to the child
• Name of the student, spelling the last name
• Teacher’s name
• Date(s) of the absence
• For a partial day absence, please indicate the reason for the delay and when your child will arrive at school.
• Reason for absence (illness, medical, dental, etc.) If a reason is not given, the absence will be marked unexcused.
• ​​Leave a telephone number where you can be reached in case the office has a question.

Please report the absence by 9:00am. If your child does not arrive at school and we have not received an absence message, you will receive a message from ParentSquare with an option to submit an attendance note. Please help minimize our daily calls by notifying us immediately when your child will be absent or tardy.

When a child has been absent from school for any period of time, a note from home is required. If the absence is due to illness, please state the date and type of illness. If your child comes down with a contagious illness, please notify the office immediately. We are required to send exposure notices to each family in a contagious child's class. Three or more unexcused absences constitute truancy.

Children are in school 180 days a year, so please schedule vacations and routine appointments on the other 185 nonschool days. Chronic absence — missing 10 percent or more of school days due to absence for any reason—excused, unexcused absences, and suspensions—can translate into students having difficulty learning to read by the third grade, achieving in middle school, and graduating from high school.

Picking Up a Child from School Before the End of the Day

If a student needs to leave campus early, parents must notify the school in advance. For the safety and security of our students, no child will be permitted to leave the school grounds unless they are picked up by a parent, guardian, or someone listed as an emergency contact. The adult picking up a student must sign them out in the front office and will be asked for identification.

For more information, please refer to District Board Policy on Absences and Excuses (BP 5113) and Chronic Absence and Truancy (BP 5113.1)

Make-Up Work

Classroom teachers will provide parents with their basic procedures regarding make-up assignments at Back to School Night. Assignments missed due to a short illness (three or fewer days) will be made up upon the student’s return to school. Teachers are not required to provide assignments for absences due to family vacations. Please schedule family trips to correspond with scheduled school holidays. Regular attendance is critical for your student’s progress.  In the event you must be out of school for travel lasting at least 5 consecutive school days, but no more than 15, there is a short-term independent study option available. Please contact Nathan Jones ([email protected]) for more information.

Unexcused Absences/Tardiness

Children should be in their classrooms before the bell. Late arrival requires obtaining a tardy slip from the office and results in loss of valuable class time. Promptness is a necessary courtesy to the teacher and other students. Having students realize the importance of arriving on time helps them build good habits for life. Three or more tardies and/or unexcused absences constitute truancy. Vacations (even when the school is notified) are considered unexcused absences. The school is required by the state to send out truancy letters after each reporting period when five or more unexcused absences or tardies have occurred. If a pattern of habitual tardiness or unexcused absences develops, parents will be required to attend a school attendance review team at their school site.  This team will include school staff and families to address barriers to attendance. We will disenroll students who miss 10 or more consecutive school days for an unexcused reason. Students who continue to be chronically absent, following the site team meeting,  will be referred to the School Attendance Review Board with interventions including, but not limited to, referral to the DA's office and county Care Court.

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Minimum Days

Minimum days are set aside each year for Parent-Teacher Conferences, Back to School Night, Open House, and the last day of school. Additionally, each Wednesday students are dismissed early so teachers can collaborate with their grade level team.

In-Service Days

Please refer to the School Attendance Calendar for in-service dates. In-service days are full days with no classes scheduled to allow teachers to participate in district-wide professional development training.